Noel Joseph Henderson (10 August 1928 – 27 August 1997) was a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, who played in the centre position. Henderson played club rugby with North of Ireland F.C., was capped forty times for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, and was a member of the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

team that toured in 1950.

Early life

Henderson was born in

Drumahoe Drumahoe () is a village and townland in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It lies to the east of Derry. It is home to Institute F.C., an NIFL Championship football club. The busy A6 road from Belfast to Derry passes through the townland. ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

on 10 August 1928. He attended

Foyle College Foyle College is a co-educational non-denominational voluntary grammar school in Derry, Northern Ireland. The school's legal name is Foyle and Londonderry College. In 1976, two local schools, Foyle College and Londonderry High School, merged und ...

in Derry, and then

Queen's University Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

Playing career

His first appearance for Ireland came against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in 1949 when he was 20 years old. He also played in the following game against Wales, where Ireland clinched both the

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Trip ...

and the

Five Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

. During the

1950 Five Nations The 1950 Five Nations Championship was the twenty-first series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the fifty-sixth series of the northern hemisphere rugby ...

, Henderson made only a single appearance for Ireland due to injury, but was still included in the British Lions squad that travelled to New Zealand and Australia that year. He played in a total of 15 matches during the tour, including in the third test match against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

where he played out of his normal position on the wing. The other matches Henderson played in were 10 tour games against local opposition in New Zealand, the match against the New Zealand Maori team, 2 tour games in Australia and an unofficial match against the Ceylon national team during a stopoff on the journey home. Henderson played in all of Ireland's games in the Five Nations Championship between 1951 and 1955, with Ireland winning the Championship in 1951. In 1956, Henderson was made captain of the national team. Ireland recorded their first victory over a team from the southern hemisphere in January 1958, when they beat Australia during their tour of Europe. Henderson captained the side and with the scores tied at 6 points each, scored the try to give Ireland their win by 9 points to 6. In his last game as Ireland captain in 1958 against France, Henderson switched position from centre to full-back. He finished his international career at full-back, playing all four games in the 1959 Five Nations championship in the position. Henderson's 40 caps for Ireland placed him fourth at the all-time international appearances list at the time of his retirement from international rugby. Henderson played four times for the Barbarians invitational rugby team, against East Midlands in 1951, Cardiff and Swansea in 1955 and as captain against Swansea in 1956.

Post-playing career

Following his retirement from playing rugby, he continued to play a role as an administrator for his club NIFC and for the Ulster branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU). He was elected president of the Irish Rugby Football Union for the 1990-91 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Noel 1928 births 1997 deaths Irish rugby union players Ireland international rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Ireland North of Ireland F.C. players Ulster Rugby players Barbarian F.C. players Rugby union centres